(If you have found this sermon helpful, please visit us at www.HeritageRestorationProject.org or www.ChristianWisdom.info)
What is it that frightens us most about death? Is it worrying that we will desperately miss the person who leaves us behind, or that the person we leave behind will desperately miss us? Are we afraid that we will not be able to get along without the person we love? In many cases, yes, I'm sure. In other cases we may have important unfinished business with another person, a score to settle, an issue to resolve, a relationship to be repaired, work to finish, and we fear that we will not have enough time to accomplish these things. Maybe we still haven't asked for forgiveness from someone we have wronged, or told someone who needs to hear from us that they are forgiven. Or, maybe we are afraid of death because we are sinners and not prepared to meet our Maker. Death seems so final, the end of the road, the end of possibilities, the end of opportunities, the end of healing, the end of building, the end of springtime and renewal. There are many reasons why we may fear death.
If you fear death for any reason, God has a message for you that He wishes for you to hear and understand.
Listen to God speaking to us through the Apostle Paul: “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, ‘death is swallowed up in victory’. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”(1Corinthians 15:54-55)
Christians believe in eternal life. The nature of the resurrected “body” of the believer is, however, still a mystery. In 1 Corinthians 15:35-36, the Apostle Paul acknowledges the questions, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” Paul then falls back on the metaphorical illustration used by Jesus in his teaching, namely, a seed when planted must first die before the new plant emerges (see John 12:24-25). Metaphors such as this are an important part of our Christian epistemology… as I have stated elsewhere, indeed Jesus Christ himself is God’s chief metaphor (see John 14:9).
Metaphors use the known, that which can be apprehended through the five physical senses, to point to a concept that can only be known metaphorically. Both Jesus and Paul communicate to us using metaphorical language. Sometimes this is sufficient to allay the fear. At other times we are left wanting. Somehow, through the inner light of the Holy Spirit, we gain an assurance that what lies ahead is not to be feared. Mysteries remain, and the Apostle Paul himself does not skirt this issue. He acknowledges that there are aspects of the resurrection that must remain a mystery for now. In 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 Paul writes: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
And here is where trust comes into play, even when we are perplexed and afraid. John records in John 6:60-69 that when Jesus asked His disciples to accept something He had said, many of them walked away. “This is a hard saying”, they said; “who can understand it?”(John 6:60b). And many left the fellowship because they were perplexed and afraid. “Then Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you also want to go away?’ But Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’” (John 6:67-69). When you are perplexed and afraid, remember that the promises of the Lord will sustain you for he has given us the words of eternal life.
Listen again to these words the book of Revelation. In Revelation chapter 21:4 we read: “God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, for the former things have passed away.”
I think it is important for us to realize that even when it appears to us that the time has come when we can no longer do anything about the circumstances of our life, Jesus can still do something. Death may rob us of many joys and opportunities, opportunities to encourage and support a loved one, opportunities to finish our work, opportunities to see our family grow, opportunities to learn more about the Lord, opportunities to reconcile with those we have wronged, opportunities to forgive those who have wronged us. The undeniable fact is that death may prevent us from doing things, and because of that be the reason of great fear, but death is not all powerful. Restoration of that which has been lost can, through Jesus, be accomplished, both for the one who has died and gone to be with the Lord and for those who are left behind. How might this come about? It will come about in due season through the workings of God. Be calm. Stand firm. Do not be afraid (see Exodus 14:13). It may take a life-time to work through, but this I know, “every tear will be wiped away.”
One thing that God can do and frequently does is to use the death of others to help those of us who remain to understand the temporary nature of this physical world. Losing loved-one's helps us come to grips with our own mortality, an essential step in preparation for eternity. On occasion people have expressed a desire to get to know Jesus better because of what they have heard at a funeral. This is one way God can use the death of a Christian to bring others closer to eternal life in and through Jesus Christ.
In John 11:32-35, we read how devastated Mary was following the death of her brother, Lazarus. “Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, ‘Where have you laid him? They said to Him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept”.
Martha, Mary and Lazarus’s sister, accompanied them to the burial place of her brother Lazarus. Lazarus has at this time been in the grave four days, and Martha had given up all hope. She knew that Jesus could heal someone while that person was still alive, but she did not yet know that there is resurrection in and through the Lord. She saw death as the end, the end of opportunity, the end of relationships, the end of life, the end of hope. Here the Lord intervenes, commands that the stone that lay against the tomb be removed, He prays, and Lazarus comes forth out of the tomb (see John 11:40-44).
Have you ever felt like Martha? Have you ever felt there is no hope, that once death has occurred nothing can change what has happened? Remember Mary, Martha and Lazarus. The account of Mary, Martha and Lazarus encourages us to allow Jesus to do miracles in God’s way, in God’s time, to heal the wounds of bitter situations, even those situations where it appears we have reached the end of the road. Jesus loves you, and somehow, someday, every tear will be wiped away. This is the promise made to you, and it is my hope and prayer that, through the grace of God, you will find the strength to overcome your fear, even as death itself has been overcome by the Lord.
Each of us, from time to time, must face frightening situations in which death is involved, situations where it looks as if there is no hope. And I pray that the Holy Spirit will grant you peace and encouragement.
This year we have again seen friends and loved ones die. And today we remember them and honor them. Some of these people God has used to introduce family and others to the Christian faith, and to help those of us who still remain in this life to explore more deeply the Christian faith. Because we are faced with the reality of death, we become more highly motivated to grow in our faith, and more likely to recognize the importance of those treasures that endure in contrast to those things in our lives that lack permanent importance. Sorrow itself is not permanent. Sorrow will be left behind with our earthly bodies. This passage from life to death to new life lies ahead for each of us. God will be with us on that day giving us the grace which inspires trust and confidence.
I remember my mother had a terrible fear of cancer throughout her entire adult life. A cousin had died a horrible death at a young age because of cancer. As the years went by it seemed that Mom’s fear of cancer became only worse. And then a wonderful thing happened. She had cancer. That of course was not the wonderful thing. It was a very sad thing for us all. The wonderful thing came next. Mom asked her three sons and our wives to gather around the gurney as she was waiting to be taken in to surgery. The wonderful thing, and I shall never forget it, was the total transformation that came upon her. Here was this woman who throughout her entire life was deathly afraid of cancer, now facing surgery for that very same disease, surgery that she knew she might survive. She spoke to us gently, with faith and confidence, encouraging us not to be sad if she did not make it, thinking of us, blessing each of us, without a tear in her eye. I’ve got one in my eye as I think back over that remarkable moment. God’s grace is sufficient, and when needed, we too will find the strength to face death.
Mom survived and lived on for a number of years, never again to experience cancer but in the last years of her life experiencing a painful and debilitating stroke.
Sometimes our attempts to explain our Lord’s promise of the Christian hope for resurrection are glib, overly simple, dismissive, something of a well-meaning generalization, a sugar coated version of a truth that is somehow weakened by transparent dishonesty. Death hurts. It is frightening. And it is best to be honest about it. But despite the fear we are experiencing, God’s grace will be sufficient to help us through it. Trust and obey! Jesus is with us every step of the way. And it may be that God will grant us sufficient time to prepare, time to gain greater understanding of the Gospel, sufficient time to finish what needs to be finished, opportunities to witness to others, sufficient time to repent of our own sins, reconciliation with family and with God.
The journey home began on this earth when we were baptized. When we were baptized, God made us an adopted part of the His family. The journey has continued through trials and tribulations, through success and disappointments, and through many joys and sorrows as we grew into the faith and understanding of what being an adopted part of God’s family means. It is our belief that those who have died as part of the family of God are being sustained, cared for and comforted by the Lord into whose care we have entrusted them, and, that we too, after much wandering upon this earth, shall reach the homeland of our heart, a land made not by human hands but prepared for us by the Lord (see 2 Corinthians 5:1 and Hebrews 11:8-10, 13-16). We believe, in accordance with the teachings of our Lord, that we will be gifted with a new and everlasting body to house our essence, the soul that loves and adores our Creator, and that we will live in fellowship with Him and with our loved-ones forever. What more can be said, what more can be said, what more need be said, on this subject.
(If you found this sermon helpful, please visit us at www.HeritageRestorationProject.org)
